


horns and thorns

by wolfspa



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Demon AU, M/M, but the story focuses on ryan and ray, i'm just tagging everyone bc eventually they will all be there, ray is a fanboy, ryan is a demon [spooky music]
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-07 21:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1915002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfspa/pseuds/wolfspa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Demons are a very rare occurrence in the 'human realm' and Rooster Teeth is <em>just</em> lucky enough to have one in their offices by the name of Ryan Haywood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **ryan is a demon! want to know what he looks like?[click here](https://31.media.tumblr.com/44aaf7fa8799d0d8ef55aded157ebf27/tumblr_n8cvrkiHHH1twgk5lo1_1280.png) c:**
> 
> there's not much else to say, but the let's play they do is based on CTT because it's the first one ryan and ray were in together (i think), but then that is the only thing really that falls into ''real'' timeline. the rest of the events are all jumbled and mixed up.. whoops.

When Ray gets hired at Rooster Teeth, he was pretty excited. It’s a job where he gets to play video games all day, every day— what’s better than that?

On his first day in the offices, he had a tour with Geoff, and he assumed that he was being shown around but there was a part of the buildings that Geoff purposely avoided. Ray didn’t ask about it however, assuming that it just didn’t concern him.

“Alright, so that’s about everything.” Geoff sighs after the long walk. “Here’s where your desk will be,” He points to the empty corner of the room next to the window. “But there’s one more thing to tell you about working here.” Geoff’s voice is serious. “We have a demon employee.”

At first, Ray just nods because he didn’t quite hear what Geoff had said, but once he replays the words in his mind, the gears start turning. “A demon?” He asks, his voice suddenly going a pitch or two higher. “You have a demon working here?” He’s beaming, really, because demons are fucking _cool._

They’re rare in the human realm and he knows he shouldn’t think about this like some game of pokémon, but he’s never met a demon before, and the idea is completely fascinating.

“Doesn’t that bother you?” Geoff asks, cocking his head to one side.

“Not at all man, that sounds awesome.” Ray tries not to sound like too much of a fanboy already.

"Some demons get a bad reputation, but I promise Ryan is a great guy." Geoff assures him, not that he needed any assurance. What he really wants is to _meet_ this guy, but it's his first day and he probably shouldn't start off with pushing everyone's buttons so he just nods, and Geoff seems pleased to have things go so well.

He's going to love this job.

> Only a few weeks after Ray's first day, he gets wind of Geoff bringing Ryan into their office for let's plays, but never when Ray was around. Gavin wouldn't stop bringing it up, and after the video came out, Ray watched it immediately. Three minutes in, and he was hooked.

He feels a pang of jealousy run through him as the others laughed and played together with Ryan and watching as they all got along so well. He's still sort of the new kid, and there's a bit of pressure to make a good impression on everyone, including Ryan.

He probably doesn’t really have to prove anything to anybody, but slight social anxiety and self-consciousness doesn’t really help in any situation, and especially not when starting at a new job— a new job that he desperately wants to keep.

> "Come on, let me meet him already." Ray huffs. "You guys have done like a million Let's Plays with him and I feel left out."

Geoff sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. " What is your obsession with him?"

"I don't have an obsession." Ray defends. " But don't you think it's weird that every time Ryan is in a Let's Play, I'm not there?"

"Have you ever even seen a demon before?" Geoff asks, and no, he really hasn't. He's seen _pictures_ because there's like, this whole, weird demon porn stuff that goes around on the internet-- not that he's into that or anything but _whatever._ He definitely knows what a demon looks like.

"Yeah." Ray shrugs.

"Ryan isn't like most demons."

"Geoffrey." Ray groans dramatically. "You're making a big deal out of nothing. I am going to walk up to him, say hello, maybe shake his hand and say good bye. I'm not asking him to marry me." Thankfully Geoff chuckles at that.

"Okay, fine." He says, throwing his hands up in defeat. "Come on." Geoff turns and walks out of the achievement hunter office and Ray follows him down the hallway to what he knows to be the sort of "animators dungeon."

They wade through all of the mess and clutter, arriving at the cluster of desks in the back and it takes a moment for Ray to realise what he's actually looking at.

"Hey Ryan." Geoff says casually, catching the demon's attention. He turns his head to look up at them and _wow._ Geoff was not lying. "This is Ray, our newest achievement hunter." Geoff says like a proud dad. "Well, besides you."

"I've worked here for like, a year." Ryan says with a smirk.

"You know what I meant." Geoff narrows his eyes at him before turning back to Ray, who is trying desperately not to stare.

Those demon porn stars Ray had seen all had small horns with thin-- or sometimes no tails, and cute pinkish purple eyes, but Ryan.. Ryan has long, deep red horns that curl out from his forehead, fading into yellow, and finally white at the tips with a thick tail of the same color scheme that pokes out the back of his desk chair. But probably the most striking things about him are his eyes, which are a delightful mix of watery blue and green, with that same deep red in a ring around the iris. He's been staring at them for quite some time, and the array of shades and shadows in his eyes are _incredible._

He eventually realises that the room has gone quiet and Ryan is looking at him expectantly. "Oh, I'm Ray." He says, sticking out his hand, and Ryan eventually offers his own, shaking firmly.

"Ryan." He says plainly.

"Yeah," Ray says awkwardly. "Uh, you were the only one I hadn't met yet so.." He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "I hope we can do some Let's Plays soon or something." He shrugs, and Ryan raises an eyebrow. _Dammit, Ray._ He curses himself. _He doesn't want to do anything with you, shut up._

"Nice meeting you." Ryan says with a rough looking smile, and Ray catches a glimpse of just how sharp his canines are. _Jesus Christ._

"Yeah," Ray agrees. "Nice meeting you too." He turns on his heels, practically running back to his own desk before he could be even more embarrassed.

> It was _months_ before Geoff put Ray and Ryan in the same room again, and this time, it's for a Let's Play. A minecraft Let's Play, which would typically be Ray’s least favourite, but he feels excited knowing that he will finally get to play with Ryan.

He feels anxious and he can tell that Geoff is keeping an eye on him as the recording starts.

"Come on, X-Ray." Gavin pleads with him to do the stupid 'Let's Play' thing, but he's not about to make a fool of himself in front of Ryan.

"Let's play.." Ray says weakly, making his voice croak on purpose, earning a laughing squawk from Gavin.

"Thanks Ray." Michael snorts.

They’re all busy playing some ridiculous game Geoff and Gavin had come up with, and Ray had basically given up on winning and retired to stealing glances at Ryan when he was like at least 97% sure he couldn’t see him. The demon was sat on the couch on the other side of the room, face glued to the little monitor in front of him and Ray couldn’t help but notice the way he kept biting his lip as he mashed the buttons on the controller.

Ray really isn’t trying that hard but he definitely notices when Ryan seems to attack and kill him four times in a row. “Got Ray!” He says, running his character over Ray’s dead one and collecting his items.

“Ryan, why.” Ray complains with a laugh. and when he respawns, Ryan’s character is standing outside, ready to kill him again. “Ryan’s still here!” He shouts, begging for help from his teammates. Michael and Gavin take him out and Ray takes the opportunity to grab a bow and arrow, lining up long shots across the map, killing Ryan in a few hits.

“Shit Ray, you’re a prick with that thing.” Ryan groans, and the words are almost discouraging enough for him to stop attacking his co-worker… _almost._

By the end of it, they were all laughing and screaming at each other, and Ray had managed to find the will to actually try again. The lads win the game and Geoff and Jack are legitimately upset-- Ryan just laughs as Ray congratulates Gavin with an overdramatic chest bump.

"That was a fun one." Ray admits, sitting back down at his desk to kill his capture and turn off his Xbox.

"Well, winning helps Ray." Michael says, leaning over to give him a high five. He's not wrong, winning certainly makes things more fun but he can't help but think that Ryan might have had something to do with it.

They had barely spoken to each other at all since their first meeting, aside from a few "good morning"s and "what's up"s in the hallways or kitchen, but he feels like he made progress with Ryan... Killing each other multiple times in a child's video game counts as progress right?

> "What are you doing?" An all too familiar voice says from behind Ray, making him nearly jump out of his seat, or rather, _Ryan's seat._

"You scared the shit out of me." Ray says, holding a palm to his chest. "We need your computer for the minecraft server." He explains, fiddling with folders and icons on the screen. "Geoff told me to get you to start it up, but you weren't here."

"Clearly the next logical step was to sit in _my_ chair and snoop around on _my_ computer." Ryan's voice is stern and harsh sounding, but when Ray turns to look at him, his face is softer than he expected, so he pushes his luck.

"I'm a big dummy, I wouldn't be able to snoop on your PC if I tried. I can't even find the server." Ray says, ready to push himself out of the chair but before he can stand, Ryan reaches one arm around him and takes the mouse in hand, effectively locking Ray into the chair. He immediately feels hot, having his space crowded in on by the much larger demon.

"I'll show you." Ryan says, and his voice is kind of way too close to Ray's ear. He watches Ryan quickly click through storage and folders, finding the java application easily. He double clicks and the program starts up, displaying the details of the server. "Viola." Ryan says, straightening himself from leaning over Ray's back.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna remember that." Ray says matter of factly, giving Ryan a little smirk.

"Hopeless." Ryan replies, cracking a smile of his own, and it's a smile that Ray has never really seen directed at him before and even with the sharp teeth it's very... Warm. "Now get out of my chair." Ryan waves his hand and Ray obeys probably too easily, standing up and moving to the side.

Ryan sits down, folding one leg under his butt as he opens up some programs to work on.. _whatever_ the hell he works on— animation stuff that Ray doesn’t understand. He watches Ryan work for a moment, and as he bounces his leg and shifts around in the chair, he notices the demon’s tail start to flick and swish around, eventually working it’s way out of the space between the back of the chair and the seat. Ray lets out a small, breathy laugh which causes Ryan to look up at him.

“Don’t you have a Let’s Play to do?” He asks, the kindness in his smile before has been replaced with slight annoyance and Ray can certainly understand _that._

“Yeah, sorry.” Ray mumbles. “Thanks.” He makes his way back to the Achievement Hunter room and shuts the door behind him.

“Christ, did you have to go back in time and reinvent the internet or what?” Geoff snorts as Ray finally sits back down at his desk.

“Shut up.” Ray huffs, putting his headset on. “Ryan wasn’t there and I don’t know what a computer is so it took me a while.” He doesn’t bother mentioning that Ryan _had_ shown up and Ray most definitely turned into a bumbling idiot the moment he had. He busies himself with the recording, trying to wipe away his thoughts of Ryan.

 _Just because he has cool horns,_ He thinks to himself. _Doesn’t mean you need to touch them, Ray._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 'fans' find out about Ryan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so remember when i said the time table of this fic was super messed up? yeah i wasn't kidding. we're still technically in 2012 but versus isn't supposed to start until 2013 and everything is SO BACKWARDS but that's just how it's gonna have to be o k a y

"Hey Ryan." Ray hears Jack say as the door to the office opens and closes. He tries not to turn his head too quickly to watch the older man squeeze himself into the tight space in which his sofa was crammed. He was spending more and more time stuffed into their little room with the five of them, and Ray had exactly zero complaints.

Ryan was basically specifically hired to be in the background, working quietly on detailed things that hardly anyone would notice, and even though his name was plastered on the credits of everything he worked on, no one really asked "Who is Ryan Haywood?"

Ray can tell— he prefers it that way. Ryan's cocoon of privacy and personal space is incredibly well protected by the dirty looks and snarls he throws at nearly everyone with a camera or recorder within a 50 foot radius. He's surprised Ryan even agreed to do the Let's Plays, the guy barely talks outside of recordings.

It makes for a strange dynamic between them. During recordings, Ryan is talkative and cheery, but once the capture stops, he's back to his closed off self, and it actually intimidates Ray to the point of not being able to _speak_ in the demons presence.

Eleven something or other rolls around, and everyone splits for lunch, leaving Ryan and Ray alone in the office together, but after only a few minutes, the silent tension is too much to bear, and Ray excuses himself, retreating to the kitchen. Thankfully, he finds Michael rooting around in the fridge.

"Hey," Ray feels slightly out of breath, despite having not gone very far, or very fast.

"What's up, Ray?" Michael says, not bothering to look back, and Ray takes comfort in the fact that he knew who it was. _At least someone acknowledges me outside of videos._

"Uh, I just, you know?" Ray stumbles over his words. "Is Ryan always so quiet?" And even though he's halfway across the building, he speaks softly, as if Ryan might hear him from here.

Michael emerges from the refrigerator with a plastic bag, containing some sort of sandwich. "Man, he's only really like that when you're in the room." He shrugs.

"What?" Ray can feel his face burning up.

"I'm _kidding._ " Michael laughs. "But it's funny because you're kind of obsessed."

"Why does everyone keep telling me I'm obsessed!?"

"Uh, because you are." Michael states plainly, taking a big bite of his food. "You get all giggly and shit when we do the Let's Plays. And you kill him all the fucking time which is like, something 7 year olds do when they want daddy to pay attention to them."

Ray can feel his skin boiling, and he knows his face is probably tomato red, but he can't exactly deny it.

Yes he can. And he will. "Fuck off, I do not."

"You do, it's cute though."

"What's cute?" Jack suddenly asks, making Ray spin around to see him at the coffee machine.

"Ray's man crush on Ryan." Michael says , and Jack smiles instantly.

"Yeah that's pretty cute." Jack says laughing and _god dammit,_ how many of them are in on this?

"Screw you guys." Ray shakes his head, walking back towards the Achievement Hunter room, telling himself that he'd rather deal with Ryan's silent treatment than everyone else's harassment.

And that's exactly what he gets, a quiet and very awkward lunch hour.

> Ray tries not to eavesdrop all the time, but he blames Geoff for talking too loudly to Ryan on the other side of the room.

“It’ll be fine, dude.” Geoff says. “You’re in the Let’s Plays and it’s going fine.” And that’s really only half true. At first, Ray had seen the comments on the new videos with Ryan, people complaining that he didn’t fit in with the rest of them, and it took a lot of willpower for Ray to _not_ reply and destroy their asses via youtube comments.

“They don’t know about me.” Ryan says flatly, and _oh shit,_ no one outside of the office knows?

“You’re a demon, not Satan himself. It will be fine, I promise.” Geoff persuades him, and Ryan sighs heavily. “Okay?” Geoff asks hopefully, and Ray doesn’t hear Ryan say anything, but Geoff makes a happy noise and leaves the room.

> A few weeks later, Ray realises the idea that Geoff had proposed to him was “Versus” and Ryan had avoided being featured in the first video, but now it was his turn to challenge Michael to a game.

Ryan sits on his couch, surrounded by his laptop and what seems to be every cord in the office, his tail curled up in them after moving things around countless times. Gavin uses his phone to record the video as Michael walks into the room, having changed into some weird combination of shorts and a tank top.

“Ryan, you’re at a disadvantage if you don’t stretch!” Michael says, doing some clumsy looking lunges with one hand on his ass cheek right in front of him.

“It would take me too long to get out of here.” Ryan says with a smirk, his tail flipping once and causing the cords to rustle around on the couch. Ray is pretty sure he caught Ryan staring at Michael’s butt, and when the curly haired lad turns around to stretch the other way, Ray takes a look for himself, suddenly feeling self conscious about his own ass. _What the fuck._

“Good luck to Michael,” Geoff says before they start.

“And good luck Ryan!” Ray shouts from his seat, feeling slightly embarrassed after remembering how everyone in the office knows about his little ‘thing’ for Ryan.

The demon challenges Michael to an old PC game, which basically seals Michael’s fate from the beginning, and it’s immediately clear that he’s been pushed out of his comfort zone. After a few minutes, Ryan is halfway to victory, and Michael has killed himself enough times to be in negative points. It’s not long before Ryan takes the victory, and the room erupts into cheers.

“Accept the belt, Ryan.” Michael says, unbuckling from his own waist. Ray watches as Ryan’s face twists, clearly not expecting that he would have to stand up.

“Let me just unstrap myself here.” He huffs, pulling at his headphones and attempting to pull his tail out of the cords with little success.

“Ray to the rescue!” Ray shouts, standing up from his seat and rushing over to the other side of the room, kneeling down behind Jack and starts pulling at the wires, trying his best to free his friend. “How did you do this, Ryan?” Ray laughs, and Geoff and Michael are both practically cackling.

Ryan takes his tail in his hands, and pulls hard in an angry attempt to free himself but only succeeds in making knots bigger and tighter. “Dammit.” He says flatly, resigning and letting his head fall against the back of the cushions.

“Almost got you.” Ray tries his best to avoid touching Ryan’s skin, feeling like that’s some sort of no-no, but in some spots it’s impossible, and he ends up brushing his fingers against the older man’s tail. “Shit,” He whispers to himself, and as the final cord is pulled away, Ray stands up, triumphantly raising his arms. “I got your back, Ryan.”

“Thanks Ray,” Ryan chuckles, before looking at Gavin, realising that the camera had been recording the whole time. “You can cut that out, right?”

“Absolutely.” Gavin says, trying not to laugh. “No one will ever see that footage.”

“I hate you.” Ryan shakes his head, standing up and stepping over to Michael to finally take the belt. “This doesn’t even fit me.” Ryan laughs, attempting to squeeze himself into the prop.

"Suck it in, Ryan." Geoff says with a smile, and he sort of does, although he doesn't have much to 'suck.' Ray is just now noticing how much _bigger_ Ryan is compared to the rest of them (except for maybe Jack), just by way of mass and bone structure. His shoulders are broad and strong, and even though his waist is proportionally slim, he still has trouble getting the belt on. He's never seen the guy with his shirt off, but he imagines it's quite the sight. He looks _powerful._ And Ray finds that beyond intimidating.

> A week later, the video is posted, and Ray doesn't usually watch their videos, mostly because he has trouble tolerating his own face, but he can't resist this one. He watches the entire thing, thoroughly enjoying listening to Ryan's banter with Michael and is surprised to see that Gavin actually did cut the few minutes it took to untangle him from his equipment.

Ray is not entirely sure _what_ possesses him to do it, but he scrolls down on the website, finding the comment section and reading a few of the posts. The first few are nothing more than spam, but the farther down he goes, the more annoyed he becomes.

_"they hired a demon? that's fucked up."_

_"I can't believe Ryan is a demon, I thought I liked him..."_

_"ew, demons are NOT cool."_

_"i hope this guy won't become a permanent member of AH."_

Ray wants to type out long winded replies about how everyone in the office _loves_ Ryan, and he’s an incredible addition to their team, and the rest of them could not give a single shit what these assholes think about him— but he stops himself. He closes the browser entirely and gets up from his desk, wasting some time walking circles in the bathroom before making his way to the kitchen to grab a drink.

He nearly collides with Geoff on his way, his boss placing his hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, Ray.” Geoff smiles. “You ready to record in about an hour?”

“Yeah.” Ray shrugs, walking passed him and towards the fridge.

“Hey,” Geoff uses the hand already on his shoulder to stop him. “What’s up with you?” He asks, looking genuinely concerned for the lad, and it warms Ray’s heart a little bit. Geoff is definitely the “daddy” of the group, always trying to take care of everyone.

“Nothing, but..” Ray starts, not sure if he should talk about this _now._ “Did you see the nasty shit people have been saying about Rye on the versus video?”

Geoff’s hand drops from Ray’s shoulder, furrowing his brow. “You saw the comments?” He asks, and Ray nods. “Man, how many times have _you_ told us not to read that shit?”

“I know,” Ray groans. “But this is different.” Because it _is_ different. If the viewers want to pick on Ryan because he’s new, that’s one thing, but making rude comments because he’s a demon is _wrong._ No matter how you look at it.

“Yeah, but ‘Rye’ is a big boy.” Geoff says, picking up on the nickname Ray had given their co-worker. “He’ll be fine.”

> The next few weeks went on as they normally would, but Ray was pretty damn sure something was off with Ryan, and he couldn’t put his finger on it.

After his episode of versus with Jack, Ryan had avoided being in them all together, telling Geoff to ‘’bring him in’’ whenever he was needed for the next one, and he’d sort of stopped spending as much time in the AH offices as he was before. Even when he is spending time in the small office, it's not exactly sunshine and rainbows.

"Seriously Gavin?" Ryan tone is so cold it almost makes Ray shiver.

"What's up Ryan?" Gavin says giggling. He knows exactly what he's doing, but the Brit doesn't pick up on just how frustrated Ryan is. When Ryan doesn't even bother to reply, Gavin runs his character over to Ryan's bed and breaks it for the third time. Ryan is uncharacteristically quiet when he dies and sees the message on respawn:

"Your home bed was missing or obstructed."

"Oh, Gavin." Ray tries not to laugh as Gavin starts giggling and squeaking uncontrollably. "You shouldn't play games with Ryan the strangler."

"GAVIN!" Ryan practically screams as the screen flashes with another death message. Ray jumps in his seat at the sound, and looks over just in time to see Ryan bolting up and leaving the room.

"He fucking left!" Jack shouts, laughing hysterically.

"Oh my god Gavin." Michael starts laughing too, and soon the entire room is filled with everyone’s laughter— except Ray’s, who seems to be the only one catching on to Ryan’s annoyance.

After a few minutes, the demon re-enters the room looking slightly refreshed, but Ray notices how his knuckles are reddened. Ryan appears to be in better spirits however and his new mission in the let’s play quickly becomes “torture Gavin.”

By the time the game was over, Ryan and Gavin had killed each other more times than either of them could count, and Ryan even suggested editing in a kill counter for each of them. As with the previous days, Ryan retreated back to his old desk after everyone had killed their captures and shut down their consoles, clearly content to finish out his day in the quiet of the “dungeon.”

“Ryan!” Ray calls as he jogs down the hallway towards his co-worker, and thankfully, he stops and turns.

“What’s the matter?” Ryan asks, cocking his head to one side, and Ray suddenly feels out of breath.

“Dude,” Ray tries his best to sound serious. “Did you punch something?” He nods towards Ryan’s sore looking knuckles.

“Ah, you weren’t supposed to notice that.” He replies with a smile, crossing his arms.

“Kinda hard not to notice.”

“No one else noticed.” Ryan says bluntly, and _no shit_ they didn’t notice, because no one else spends a ridiculous amount of time staring at the guy’s hands, but Ray isn’t about to say that out loud.

“I’m just,” _concerned._ “Trying to look out for you. You’ve been looking kinda mopey lately.” Ryan laughs at that, nodding once.

“You could say that. Everyone has their days.” He shrugs, and even though Ray is pretty sure he knows what this is about, he keeps his mouth shut for now. He’s going to let Ryan do the talking, if he chooses to.

“Did Geoff tell you about his 4th of July party?”

“He did.” Ryan nods again, arms still crossed over his chest.

“You should come.” He blurts out. Truth be told, he hadn’t planned to be there either, but maybe they could both use a little time outside of the office.

“I’ll think about it.” Ryan says after a long pause, and he turns to walk away, but Ray stops him once more.

“Did you at least break whatever you punched?” He asks, and Ryan turns to look at him over his shoulder.

Ryan smirks. “It’s broken as fuck.” He continues walking and disappears into the animation offices and Ray smiles to himself. He has never looked forward to a party in his life, but he can’t wait to see Ryan outside of work.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geoff has a party and honestly, Ray shouldn't even be here. ~~but he's glad he is.~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things are gonna pick up soon man, I PROMISE

Ray gets a text from Geoff around 7:30 saying that he's on his way to pick him up. Ray doesn't have a driver's license or a car, so he depends on his  friends and co-workers to get around. Thankfully, they are all kind enough to help him out.

It doesn't take long for Geoff to get to his apartment and once he's sure he's got all of his essentials, he steps out and locks his door, making his way down to Geoff's Audi.

"Thanks for picking me up." Ray says with a smile. Geoff nods, and of course his boss is happy to help him, but Ray is sure to thank everyone every time he gets a lift.

"I'm glad you decided to come." Geoff says happily. "This is gonna be kick ass." And he's got a point. Griffon has apparently set up a lot of fireworks, and of course Geoff will be doing some A+ cooking.

"Is Ryan coming?" Ray asks, and immediately Geoff's lips twist up.

"I dunno, buddy. He didn't tell me anything." Ray just nods. He's going to try not to be too disappointed if he doesn't show up. They pull up to Geoff's at nearly 8:00 and he parks in the garage, leaving plenty of space for people in the driveway.

"I told everybody to be here at eight." Geoff explains as they walk through the house and into the backyard. Gavin is there already with a beer in his hand, chatting with Griffon.

“Hey Gav.” Ray greets his friend, who gives an awkward salute accompanied by a giggle.

“Hey Ray.” He says, making Griffon turn to greet him as well. There’s a fire pit in the middle of the yard with lawn furniture placed around it, and Ray takes a seat next to Gavin.

“Do you know if Ryan is coming?” He asks, not able to help himself.

Gavin gives him a look, but shakes his head. “Dunno. Haven’t heard from him.” Ray silently curses himself for thinking this was a good idea.

> Ray checks his phone for what must be the billionth time in ten minutes. He feels ridiculous watching the minutes tick away.

_11:31_

_Shit_ , Ray thinks to himself. He's about to ask Geoff to take him home before his boss gets too drunk to drive, and as he wades through co-workers and lawn furniture to find him, he's stopped dead in his tracks by the sight of Ryan talking with Geoff by the door to the house.

He watches them chat for a moment, and Geoff even earns a laugh out of the demon before offering him a beer, which he politely turns down. The pair of them turn towards the rest of the group and start in Ray's direction.

"Need something?" Geoff asks, clearly picking up on the fact that the lad had been watching them. Which means Ryan noticed too, _fuck_.

"Pee break!" Ray lies, dodging passed them and into the house. He finds the bathroom and locks the door, leaning against the sink, trying to figure out how long he should wait to fib a bathroom trip, but not make it so long that people think he got lost or had to shit.

> It's really impossible to miss Ryan in a crowd. He's tall, and his horns stick up far enough that they sort of poke out of the mass of people, and as Ray gets closer to him, he can swear that the guy _glows_ in the light of the fire. His tail and horns and eyes all looking particularly lovely in the dim, flickering light.

He walks up next to the demon, opening his mouth to speak with no real plan for what was going to come out, but thankfully, Ryan spoke first.

"If this party is a bust, I'm blaming you."

"Well, get to blaming." Ray laughs. "I'm feeling like this was a mistake already."

"Why?" Ryan asks curiously, cocking his head to one side and it's _so_ damn cute how he does that.

"I'm not much of a party goer." Ray shrugs, and that's not a lie. He would never have agreed to come if he hadn't been banking on Ryan showing up.

"Then why come?" Ryan says bluntly, and Ray isn't sure how to answer that, be a use even though he could give about ten different reasons, none of them are things he's confident enough to say out loud.

"Free food mostly." He answers, and Ryan cracks a smile, shaking his head. "What about you? Why did you decide to come?"

"I've never seen fireworks." Ryan tilts his head back to look up into the night sky. "At least not in person."

"Never?" Ray asks, thoroughly surprised.

"Never."

"Aren't you a million years old or something, how have you not seen any fireworks?"

"I'm not _that_ old." Ryan says, shaking his head again. "I don't go out much."

"How old are you?" Ray starts to think about all of the amazing things that Ryan has potentially witnessed.

The demon turns to him and gives a sour look however, like it was something he wasn't supposed to ask. "Let's just say that I'm old enough to remember a time when Americans didn't celebrate the 4th of July."

"Woah," Ray says quietly, staring at Ryan who rolls his eyes. "Have you always lived in America?"

“No, definitely not.” Ryan shakes his head. “I was in England until February 18th, 1865.” He recites the date, like he probably has a thousand times before.

“Holy shit.” Ray stares at him wide-eyed. “How old are you exactly?” Ray asks, again, and Ryan gives him that annoyed look again, clearly not appreciating the invasive questions.

“348.” Ryan says flatly. “Still a baby, really.” He watches the fire flicker in front of them and Ray watches the fire flicker in Ryan’s eyes.

“A baby..” Ray laughs. “You’re ancient!”

Ryan narrows his eyes and turns to glare at the smaller human. His horns are almost shimmering in the light and Ray’s stomach does a front flip in his gut, making him feel .. _funny._ “I haven’t lived even five percent of my life time.” Ryan says, more seriously. “That’s like the equivalent of being four years old. A baby.”

He actually looks kind of pissed and it has Ray just staring at him dumbly, not sure if he should try to make another joke or apologise. He’s about to open his mouth to say something else, but thankfully, Michael saves him the trouble, appearing out of nowhere and grabbing his arm.

“Ray! Come on, me and Gavin just made the greatest game ever.” He’s pulling Ray forward, and as he turns back to look at Ryan, who apparently doesn’t mind that he’s being dragged away, as the demon has already preoccupied himself with something else. Ray tries not to let that hurt his feelings.

Michael and Gavin’s “game” had turned out to be some sort of systematic pranking which involves sneaking around and attempting to put hot sauce in everyone’s drinks. It was interesting enough to watch them run around the backyard, struggling to get the hot sauce into someone’s beer bottle, but Ray was definitely happy when Geoff announced that fireworks would be going off soon.

Mostly everyone settled down into the lawn chairs spread around the yard, some choosing to stand farther back. Ray found Ryan leaning up against the sliding door to the house, and just as he works up enough courage to go stand next to him, Gavin is pulling him down to sit between himself and Michael. Ray looks back, but Ryan has his eyes glued to the sky.

> “Geoff, I gotta get home.” Ray pleads. He hadn’t exactly thought ahead, and although he has no intention of staying at Geoff’s house over night, the older man is _definitely_ too drunk to drive him home.

“You can stay here, Ray. ‘S okay.” Geoff leans against the island in his kitchen, probably not noticing the way Ray’s face flushes. It’s a nice gesture from his boss, but he doesn’t _want_ to stay here. He wants to go to his own house— to his own bed.

“That’s nice of you Geoff, but I-” Ray starts, but thankfully he doesn’t have to struggle through the rest of the sentence as Ryan appears seemingly out of nowhere, and slaps a hand onto Geoff’s shoulder.

“I can take him home.” Ryan’s voice is low, but it’s so refreshing to hear _clear_ speech. “I’m about to head out anyway.”

“Oh, great Ryan, thanks.” Geoff says happily, straightening up from the island and unceremoniously walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

“There he goes.” Ray points as Geoff trudges up the stairs.

Ryan lets out a light laugh, looking down at his shoes. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah.” Ray nods, and follows Ryan out to the car parked on the side of the street. There’s a deep silence that stretches between them as Ray climbs into the passenger seat and Ryan starts the car. Ray doesn’t live _that_ far away from Geoff’s place, but he lives far enough that if someone doesn’t say _something_ he’s going to explode.

“So, you don’t drink?” Ray plucks up the courage to ask.

“No.” He says simply, eyes never moving from the road in front of them.

“Why not?”

“I don’t particularly enjoy the taste.” He shrugs. “Plus, I can’t get drunk, so what’s the point?”

“You can’t get drunk.” Ray says, incredulous, and Ryan just shakes his head. “So if you drank like, an ocean’s worth of alcohol, you wouldn’t get drunk?”

“If I drank an ocean of alcohol, I would _die_ — for a number of different reasons.” Ryan sighs. “But _yes,_ it takes a lot more to get me drunk than anyone would care to pay for.”

Ray just nods slowly. He’s not sure exactly what he expected on the alcohol front with a demon, but that definitely wasn’t it. “What about you?” Ryan asks, surprising the younger man with the inquiry.

“What? Would I die if I drank an ocean filled with alcohol? Probably.” Ray looks over to see Ryan rolling his eyes, and he wonders if sarcasm just doesn’t go over well with him. He feels his cheeks heat up a bit.

“No, I mean why don’t you drink.” The demon’s voice is low, and Ray understands that it’s just a question, but it sounded more like a demand.

Ray shrugs to himself. “Dunno. Guess I just never really liked it.” He stares out the window as houses as street signs pass by. He recognises that he’s close to home, and he almost feels torn between wanting to jump out of the car as fast as possible, and just sitting there forever.

There’s a long silence before Ryan speaks up. “I can respect that in a human.”

Ray assumes that was intended as a compliment, and even if it wasn’t, he still has to try _really_ hard to stop himself from smiling like an idiot. _Don’t be dumb, Ray._ He’s having trouble figuring out exactly why he turns into a useless pile of mumbling and blushing whenever he’s around Ryan, and for a while, he’s just assumed it was because he was a demon— an impressive one, but as time carries on, the feeling only becomes stronger.

Ryan’s tail doesn’t take him by surprise anymore, he can look the older man in the eyes without getting creeped out, and at this point, the horns just seem like a _part_ of him. He wouldn’t be _Ryan_ without all of these things, and Ray knows that. He’s gotten used to just how out of place Ryan looks in a world full of humans, and now he feels more like a part of their little family than ever— so shouldn’t this giddiness be going away?

“This is you, right?” Ryan’s voice breaks Ray out of his trance, and he suddenly realises that they’ve stopped in front of his apartment complex.

“How did you know?” Ray looks over at the demon, confused. He doesn’t remember telling Ryan where he lives.

“Trick of the trade.” Ryan says with a smirk, tapping his temple with his index finger, and Ray stares at him blankly, mouth open slightly. _Can he read minds?!_ “Calm down,” Ryan lets out a deep laugh. “Michael told me.”

Ray releases the breath he’d apparently been holding, letting his shoulders slump. “You’re creepy.” Ray points at him before reaching to open the door. Ryan just shrugs, smiling to himself. “Thank you by the way, I know it was probably a hassle dragging my sorry ass around.”

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.” Ray is surprised by the serious tone of Ryan’s voice. “It was no problem, really. You’re not that far out of my way.” Ryan looks up from where his eyes had been glued to the steering wheel and locks gazes with Ray for a split second— but in that split second, in the darkness of 2 a.m. with only a dim street lamp for light, Ryan’s eyes were practically glowing, and _Jesus Christ,_ the sight made Ray’s insides twist up.

“Well, thanks again.” He says quickly, opening the car door. Ryan gives a little nod, and Ray doesn’t waste any time getting to his building and up the stairs to his apartment, but he definitely notices that Ryan doesn’t pull away until Ray had let himself inside.

**Author's Note:**

> feedback and stuff is always welcome! and if you want to chat about this au, you can send me an ask on tumblr under the same username c:


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